Amir asks Rahim Khan whether Hassan is still staying in Baba's house in Kabul. Rahim Khan hands him an envelope which contains a polaroid photograph of Hassan and his son and Hassan's letter addressed to Amir. The photograph was taken by Rahim Khan on the eve of his departure to Peshawar in Pakistan.

In that letter, Hassan describes his difficult life under Taliban rule and the hardhips he and his family face. Hassan writes in that letter, "kindness is gone from the land, and you cannot escape the killings. Always the killings." He tells him how Farzana was assaulted by a Taliban youth just because she spoke loudly in the bazaar. Hassan concludes the letter saying, "I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you."

Amir is shocked to hear of the brutal manner in which the Taliban officials shot and killed Hassan and Farzana a month after Rahim Khan had left for Pakistan. The Taliban officers came to take possession of Baba's house and when Hassan resisted he and his wife were shot dead.

Rahim Khan asks Amir to go to Kabul and bring 10 year old Sohrab who is now in an orphanage in Karteh Seh. Rahim Khan wants to place Sohrab in a charitable organisation run by an American couple Thomas and Betty Caldwell. Amir refuses saying that it is too dangerous to go to Kabul now and that he is ready to pay for someone to go to Kabul and bring Sohrab to Peshawar. Rahim Khan becomes angry and remarks that it is not a question of money and that there is another very important reason for Amir and only Amir to go and fetch Sohrab from Kabul.

He then reveals to Amir that Ali had been sterile and that Hassan was actually Baba’s son through Sanaubar. Hassan had all along been unaware that Baba was actually his biological father.When Amir hears this he is too shocked and angry and storms out of Rahim Khan's apartment.